Finishing palm-leaf hats



` :vated and depressed, in order to carry thel hat holder up to or away from the smoothing blocks as occasion may require. The appa- To all whom t may concern:

j UNITED sTATEsgi PATENT oEECE,

DEXTER DENNIS, or" EAERE, MASSACHUSETTS.

EINISHING rALivr-,LEAE HATS.

" Specification offLetters Patent No. 11,214, dated July 4,1854; Antedated January 4,1854.

Be it known that I, DEXTER` DENNIS, ofg Barre, in the county of Worcester and State,1 of Massachusetts, have invented certain new?,1 and useful Improvements in Pressing orf, Finishing Palm-Leaf Hats or others of Like lCharacter; and I do `hereby declare `that the Same are fullydescribed and represented in' the following specification and the accom-` panying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.' y i Of the said drawings, Figure ldenotes top view; Fig. 2, a front elevation, and Fig 3 a side elevation of my improved machinet for pressingiand finishing palm leaf hats.

In the said drawings, A represents the hat holder or block, which I do not make cir cular in horizontal section, like other holders of other hat pressing machines, but make itV elliptical or oval Vor approximately so, in;

such section, to correspond with the shape of .the head of a person. This holder is mount- I ed on, and revolved `by a vertical shaft, B,#

that is sustained in a movable frame, C, l which is supported on the main frame, D, of the machine so as to be capable of being eleratus by which the frame C, is moved, con- Sists oftwo levers, E, F, arranged` as seen in the drawings, and united by a connecting rod G. These levers turnen fulcra at a, b, and,

the rear end of the lower lever is made to rest on a Spring 0,`while itsfront end pro-1 jects under and against the underside of the frame, C. By laying hold of the front end` of the upper lever and pulling it downward, we depress the frame, until the lever is;

The removal of thelever from underneath theJ brought and moved `under the stop c.

stop and allowing it to rise will enable the spring c, to so actuate the lower lever as tof raise the frame C, so as to carry the hat holder up Atoward the smoothing irons. These smoothing irons, or flats, are seen at H, I, K, L, M. The first two of them, viz., I-I. I, serve to smooth the rim or brim of the hat. The neXt one K, is used to smooth hat body. By means of the spring it is not `only pressed against the body, but allowed to adjust itself to the varying form thereof in horizontal section.

The iron or flat K, is drawn away from the body, by means of a lever, O, which `is connected with the spring rod by a cord, P.

By depressing the lever down underneath a stop, Q, the spring flat, K, is kept against the vertical edge of the at, I. The crown E fia-t, L is suspended to the front end of a lever R, whose fulcrum is at its opposite end, S. This lever is connected with aset of toggle bars, T, which are drawn straight f or into line (so as to lift the lever R) when the frame, C, descends, and this by means of the draft of the frame, on a cord, g, that connects it with the lower bar of the toggles.V

The crown fiat, L, is depressed by the reacting `powerof a spring U, connected with the frame of the machine .and the lever R.

There are two other levers, V, W arranged as seen in the drawings. The upper one, V, moves on a stationary fulcrum It. The other has a swingingfulcrum, that is to Say, its rfulcrnm is on the lower end of a pendulous bar, i, that swings on a Stationary pin, le, back and forth toward and away from the frame, C. The upper` lever serves to elevate the rear arm of the lower lever, it being connected to it by a cord, Z. A spring, m, is applied to draw downward the said arm of the said lower lever. The lever, W, is con* nected with the toggles by a cord, n, so that when the said lever is elevated and drawn backward it will pull back the toggles, so as to allow the descent of the crownfiat, L, upon the hat. This descent is prevented from taking place too quickly, or with too much force. The mechanism, which does this is as follows: A pitman, X, is extended back Vfrom the toggles and over a windlass, Y. Acord, 0, from the outer end of the pitman is extended to and wound around the windlass. On this windlass is `a fan or broad arms, p. A weight, g, is suspended from the windlass by means of a cord, r, which is wound around the windlass in op posite direction to that of the cord, 0. When the toggles are drawn backward, their back movement is counteracted by the action of the fans against the air, the fans and windlass being put in rotation by such movement. At the same time the frame, C, Vis raised up, the attendant applies his hand to the front arm of the lever, V, and pulls it down, so as toelevate the rear arm of the lever, IV, and move back the said lever. As soon as the frame, C, has been elevated, the attendant lets go of thelever, V, which will next be drawn downward and its front end be forced under a projection, S, from the frame, C, whereby the frame, C, will be forced upward with thedegree of pressure required to keep the hat up against the smoothing flats, during the process of ironing it.

The smoothing fiat, M, is for the purpose of smoothing a rounded corner or part of the body intervening between the crown and sides of the hat. This part is seen at t, and the fiat to do this, is an additional one to the number generally used in a machine for ironing` hats, as it has not beeny customary to iron hats with dishing crowns on such machines. These hats are termed the Kossuth palm-leaf hats. The said fiat, M, is jointed to a lever, u, that is hinged at its fulcrum, o, to the crown fiat, and has a spring o, bearing against its Lipper arm, so as to press the fiat up to the hat. The lower end of the shaft, B, is stepped on a lever, fw, that is elevated by means of an adjusting l screw, a', the whole being applied to the v greater tenacity, than to the hat.

frame, C, as seen in Fig. 2, of the drawings.

In finishing a hat, my process for applying the stiifening differs essentially from that generally adopted, which is to: First, dip the whole hat into the glue or stifi'ening composition, and next, block it, and suffer it to dry on the block, and subsequently removing it from the block, by taking the block to pieces and forcibly tearing it from the hat. Before ironing the hat, its exterior has to be covered with a wet cloth, which is suffered to remain on it until the glue on the exterior surface of the hat becomes softened and adheres to the cloth, which it will do with On removal of the cloth, the glue will come ofll with it.

My improved process of applying the stifening glue or composition, is to put it directly Von thev hat holder, when the latter is in revolution. This may be done by an attendant holding against the hat holder a brush dipped in the glue. When the surface of the hat holder has been thoroughly covered, which will be in a few molnents, the hat is to be put upon it and immediately moved up against the smoothing irons or flats, and the hat holder put in rapid rotation. The heat and smooth surfaces of the flats will not only smooth the hat, but will dry the glue, and such glue instead of sticking Ato the hat holder, will adhere to the hat, so

holder with the stiffening composition and applying the hat thereon, and subjecting it to the action of the heating flats substantially as above specified.

2. I also claim the combination of the round corner fiat, M, with the crown and side flats, so as to operate in connection with them as specified.

3. I also claim the improvement of using a hat holder, elliptical or oval in its horizontal section, in combination with applying to the side fiat a spring bar'or contrivances, that will allow Ait to spring or move, while the hat holder is revolved, and adapt itself to such hatl holder as specified.

4. I claim in combination with the top or crown flat, and the elevating and depressing machinery thereof, a fan apparatus to regulate it-s downward descent on the hat as specified.

5. And in combination with the frame, C,

and the crown flat, I claim the toggles,'T,

DEXTER DENNIS.

Vitnesses F. R. HALE, J r., It. H. EDDY. 

